A dejected Lewis Hamilton said he was “definitely not fast” after taking seventh on the grid for Saturday’s sprint race in Losail.
The Mercedes driver qualified just under four tenths of a second slower than team mate George Russell, who will start from the front row after almost beating Lando Norris to pole position.Hamilton, who has repeatedly struggled in qualifying sessions this year, said today’s session was “the same as every other qualifying – not that great.”
“I’m just slow and [it’s the] same every every weekend,” he added. “The car felt relatively decent, no issues and not really much more to say.”
Mercedes scored a one-two finish at the last round in Las Vegas and Hamilton admitted the car is competitive this weekend, but he doubts he will get the best out of it. “The positive is that the car is fast and George should be able to shoot for pole tomorrow,” he said.
Starting from the fourth row of the grid, Hamilton doubts he’ll be in contention for victory in the sprint race. “The long run didn’t feel too bad but when you’re always back where I am, it makes it’s very hard to be competing – well, almost impossible pretty much – to be competing for wins from there,” he said.
Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said Hamilton looked on course to qualify on the front two rows until the end of his lap.
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“We were optimistic coming into the weekend but didn’t expect to see our performance in the same window as we did in Vegas so George’s P2 today is encouraging for the team,” he said. “Pace across the top four teams looks very close so it’s beneficial to be starting the sprint race on the front row.
“Lewis was looking competitive in his final lap of SQ3 but unfortunately lost a little time in the last two corners, prior to this it looked like he was going to also finish in the top four.”
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Ben
29th November 2024, 20:41
Well you said it Lewis. Hopefully Ferrari is a reset and suits his driving style because it’s sad to see him being utterly humiliated by Russell.
I hope he retires next season if it’s a similar situation to Leclerc. It’ll be a shame to see him leave with a whimper, but it looks like the writing is on the wall now.
Doh
30th November 2024, 5:32
This article leaves out the rest of the interview and also the rye smile on Lewis’s face during lol.
RaceFan
30th November 2024, 10:20
Oh, no, he had a wry smile. I am sure he is hiding his true pace for next year. LOL.
Ajaxn
30th November 2024, 14:27
Thank you for this element of context. Words alone won’t convey the entire truth.
Ajaxn
30th November 2024, 14:24
His comments should have been prefaced with the words ‘all things being equal’.
Mercedes has any number of reasons to ‘big up’ Russell so that it looks as if their future is in good hands. We will only see the truth of his stats over Hamilton, next season when he is officially their lead driver.
I don’t think Hamilton’s comments should be taken at face value.
Edvaldo
29th November 2024, 21:03
If he shows up fast next season then it will be clear it is because the team was leaving him in the dark
At the same time, he’s 40. It’s the age to slow down and retire. And before anyone mentions Alonso, his reference is Stroll, a driver who has been shown the way by every single teammate he ever had, including Sirotkin, so he’s probably slowing down too, but still fast enough to beat Stroll.
Edgardo
29th November 2024, 23:02
Totally disagree, George is a great driver and Hamilton is slowing down. Hard to accept I’m sure, but no way IMO Mercedes is sabotaging him.
Edgardo
29th November 2024, 23:04
Oh yeah, Lewis is normally still faster in the race.
Doh
30th November 2024, 4:23
I suppose you could argue either way but I feel that two year break invigorated Alonso too
Frank
30th November 2024, 7:52
Alonso can still show flashes of brilliance and supreme racecraft. However, he is far removed from the driver that relentlessly pushed for the 2006 title against Schumacher.
His strength used to be his continuous performance, like Verstappen, not his flashes of form. Every F1 driver shows the latter, with varying degrees of frequency.
SPArtacus
30th November 2024, 8:27
Stroll is far from the joke people try to portray him as. He’s a fool no doubt, but he’s also proven he can be fast even if he’s incredibly inconsistent. He’s been paired with plenty of good drivers and never been so throughly demolished. He beat Leclerc, Norris, Russell, Sainz and all but one driver not in an RBR last season in a car that was less competitive over the duration of a full season than the McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes. He went further into the season without failing to reach Q3 than anyone, nearly blanked Stroll in every single quali and race and even this season when the car is awful which inherently closes the gap, he’s only been out qualified without external factors by Stroll twice all season. Not sure what you want from the guy. Is he as good as he was 15 years ago? Of course not. He’d still have done far more than Norris in this year’s McLaren.
SPArtacus
30th November 2024, 8:29
thoroughly* (thanks auto correct)
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
30th November 2024, 9:59
I’m unsure that Hamilton proving to be fast next year will prove that much. If it is true that we say Mercedes have given up with him, then we could make that up for the reason Bottas underperformed in the latter half of 2021 and then was excellent when he moved to Alfa Romeo. Drivers just seem to have a dip in performance when they confirm they will be leaving a team that they are not fully comfortable with.
notagrumpyfan
30th November 2024, 10:28
Both Alonso and Hamilton are showing their age.
One can see the superior driving at times, but also an increasing amount of mediocre sessions.
BenHur
29th November 2024, 22:41
Big surprise, yo!
Leo B
29th November 2024, 23:29
Piloting an F1 car is a time limited activity.
Doh
30th November 2024, 5:33
This article leaves out the rest of the interview and also the rye smile on Lewis’s face during lol.
SteveP
30th November 2024, 11:19
Homonym time – you wanted “wry”
Other people use “breaking” when they want “braking”
English is full of this stuff. “There, they’re, their” being a triple shot
Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
30th November 2024, 12:35
My personal “favourite” is people using loose instead of lose, but hey we know what they mean which is the whole point.
fawkes
30th November 2024, 0:05
This is clearly something related to the current gen of cars. They’re too heavy, something that hurts Hamilton’s style of breaking late. He also used to be more aggressive with the steering wheel more than often. Also, nowadays they seem to seat closer to the front axle. There’s also the purposing that kills his confidence. Hamilton and Alonso (same for Vettel) were forged in the old times and never fully adapted in my opinion. But come Sunday and his pace is just unbelievable. Finally, Russell deserves much more credit.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
30th November 2024, 3:50
I reckon you’re right. I’ve been saying that there’s a few, most notably Ricciardo, but also Hamilton that don’t see to be able to get these new ground effect cars to go fast.
The only one of the old guard that seems to do OK in them is Alonso. The other so called great drivers from that era all seem to be off the pace so there must be something about them that they’re struggling to make happen.
SPArtacus
30th November 2024, 8:31
A lot of the feedback from this gen of car is entirely artificial, including the most aspect of racing, which is braking. This favors younger drivers who have grown up sim racing and of course the gift of neuroplasticity.
SPArtacus
30th November 2024, 8:39
most important*
fawkes
30th November 2024, 11:48
Have you ever seen driver61s video in which he explains why Hamilton and older drivers doesn’t like to run the factory simulator? Amazing insights there.
fawkes
30th November 2024, 11:47
Maybe, but even Alonso got beaten by Ocon. Stroll of course is by no means a good comparison.
Applebook
30th November 2024, 2:27
Two years past his best before date. There isn’t even hopium this time for him with meaningless fast practice times. The only drivers slower than their teammates this often and this badly are KMag and Perez, both of whom should have been fired last year.